Theme: Rainbow Connection - Familiar phrases/names starting with (the orderly placed) colors of the rainbow.
22A: Fake footprint at the murder scene, e.g.: RED HERRING. Something intended to divert the attention from the real issue. Joe Biden used the phrase RED HERRING very often during his campaign TV appearance.
26A: Tea type: ORANGE PEKOE. Just black tea. No orange flavor.
33A: Coward, slangily: YELLOW-BELLY. Learned this phrase, lily-livered and mealy-mouthed together in one Op-Ed piece.
66A: Anne's home, in a 1908 Montgomery classic: GREEN GABLES. "Anne of GREEN GABLES", new novel to me. GREEN GABLES is a fictional farm in Prince Edward Island. Montgomery is a Canadian author.
98A: Aristocratic: BLUE-BLOODED. Wikipedia says blue blood is from Spanish phrase "sangre azul," indicating noble birth or descent. And the term derived from the fact that the native Spanish have thinner-walled (bluer) blood vessels than people of Arab origin (the Moors).
107A: "Closer to Fine" folk-rock duo: INDIGO GIRLS. They are featured prominently in "Wordplay". Crossword nuts.
115A: Ponytailed pal of Lucy Van Pelt, in "Peanuts": VIOLET GRAY. No idea. Can't really see her poneytail.
And 49D: Mnemonic for this puzzle's theme: ROY. G. BIV, placed perfectly in the heart of the grid. I like how those color phrases are structured. Very orderly and elegant. I just can never remember ROY G. BIV. So complicated. It's easier to remember the color sequence.
There are also three Biblical figures in this puzzle:
19A: Brother of Moses: AARON. He helped lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. I've never heard of him. More used to the Hank AARON clue.
80D: Twin of Jacob: ESAU. He sold his birthright to Jacob. Probably crossword constructors' favorite Biblical figure, with all those vowels.
95D: Third son of King David: ABSALOM. Hebrew for "father of peace". Ab(h)=father. Salom = peace. Completely unknown to me. I had AB????M, then I decided ABRAHAM sounds good.
Very pleasant solving. Lots of clever clues.
Across:
5A: 12th century year: MCII. Roman 1102.
9A: Tante's spouse: ONCLE. French for uncle. Tante=aunt.
20A: Santa's favorite snack cakes?: HO HOS. Ho, ho, ho, lovely clue for our Santa Argyle.
21A: Limp-watch artist: DALI. In his "The Persistence of Memory", the watches are limp.
28A: Story starter? ESS. Letter S starts the word Story, hence starter.
27A: Kiss drummer Peter: CRISS. No idea. He is the Catman. Those guys have very strange makeup.
30A: Bite hard: CHOMP
31A: Conjurer's word: PRESTO
39A: Net business: ETAIL. Like Amazon/Ebay.
40A: It may have a code: AREA. Stumped me. Nice clue.
43A: A-Team muscle man: MR. T. Would prefer another clue due to TEAM (123A: Locker room group).
46A: Fitness franchise primarily for women: CURVES. There is one closer to our home.
48A: Related to the lower back: SACRAL. The noun is sacrum. Latin for "holy bone". No wonder it sounds sacred.
52A: Adjusts, as sagging socks: HIKES UP
54A: Helmsley and others: LEONAS. "The Queen of Mean" hotelier.
56A: 1930s-40s singer/actress Durbin: DEANNA. Unknown to me. She looks pretty. Canadian. Still alive.
57A: Stuffed shirt: SNOB
59A: "As a matter of fact," informally: Y'KNOW
62A: Stare: GAPE. Thought of OGLE.
71A: Paperless tests: ORALS. And DEES (74A: Bad marks) & BEAR (58D: Nasty exam).
73A: Meal on a stick: KABOB. Shish KABOB. Lots of weird food-on-a-stick at our State Fair.
76A: Nursery rhyme loser?: BO PEEP. "Little BO BEEP has lost her sheep". Stumper for me. All nursery rhymes are.
78A: Make a home (in): RESIDE. And ADOBE (102D: Southwestern home).
81A: "Like that'll ever happen!": DREAM ON
86A: Shows up: APPEARS
88A: Correct, as text: REVISE
90A: Site of a bread line?: BAKERY. Nailed it.
91A: "L.A. Law" costar: DEY (Susan)
92A: Go round and round: ROTATE. I liked the clue.
97A: Island east of Java: TIMOR. Sigh. I can only think of BALI. West TIMOR belongs to Indonesia. East TIMOR is an independent country.
100A: Pay attention in class: LEARN. Wanted LISTEN.
106A: One of a world majority: ASIAN
117A: Wittenberg's river: ELBE. Wittenberg is a town on the ELBE River. Famous for its connection with Martin Luther and the dawn of the Protestant Reformation. Unknown to me.
118A: Knock off: CEASE
119A: Wrong move: ERROR
120A: Mythical matchmaker: AMOR. Cupid. Roman love god. YENTE is the "Musical matchmaker" in "Fiddler on the Roof".
121A: Highland rejections: NAES
122A: Specter on the Hill: ARLEN. Pennsylvania senator. Started as a Democrat, then changed to Republican, and now back to a Democrat.
124A: Slider's goal: BASE. Baseball.
Down:
2D: Aggressive Greek god: ARES. Greek god of war. TYR is the Norse equivalent.
5D: Cousin of the xylophone: MARIMBA. New instrument to me also. What kind of wood is it made of?
6D: Veggie drawers: CRISPER. I put my grapes/peaches in the CRISPER.
8D: Having one sharp, musically: IN G. Nope. Music term is definitely my blind spot.
9D: Chicago site of many connections: O'HARE. Airport. Second busiest airport in the world, after Atlanta.
11D: Seaman's song: CHANTEY (SHAN-tee). New word to me. I will just connect it with chanter, French for "sing".
12D: A million to one, say: LONG ODDS
13D: Italian noble family: ESTE
14D: Gigi's goodbye: ADIEUS. Does Gigi here refer to Leslie Caron's "Gigi" or just a common French name?
15D: Warmongers: HAWKS. Like Paul Wolfowitz. Man, this guy is incredible. Expensive suit, no?
16D: Economist Janeway: ELIOT. Got the answer from Across fills. He was the economic advisor to FDR and LBJ.
17D: Gets the lead out?: MINES. Metal lead.
19D: Hood's weapon?: ARROW. Robin Hood.
23D: Lacking auditory feedback: ECHOLESS. Did not know it's a word.
28D: Jazz trombonist Kid: ORY. Nope. Complete stranger to me. I do know the answer for "Jazz trombonist grandpa": RON. Our jazzbumpa.
29D: Chinese leader: PREMIER. Zhou Enlai is our first and most beloved PREMIER.
30D: Horror writer Barker: CLIVE. Nope. He does not look like a writer. I like this CLIVE (Owen). Daniel Craig too. I find them to be very attractive.
31D: Put: PLACE
33D: "Ugh!": YECH. JD uses this word sometimes.
34D: Case for tweezers and such: ETUI (ey-TWEE). PTUI is pronounced like TOO-ee.
35D: Symbol of happiness: LARK. Happy as a LARK.
36D: "Boston Public" actress Sharon: LEAL. No idea. Do you like her lipstick color?
38D: Like no news?: GOOD. No news is GOOD news.
41D: Decaf pioneer: SANKA. Have never had it.
42D: "If at first you don't succeed" course of action: PLAN B. This answer gives me trouble all the time, regardless of how it's clued.
44D: Keep getting Mad, say: RENEW. Mad magazine. M is capitalized.
45D: Old dynasts: TSARS
47D: Like most pop hits: SUNG. Did not come to me immediately.
51D: He succeeded Fidel: RAUL. Brothers.
53D: Politically motivated spending: PORK. Pork barrel.
62D: Turn: GO BAD
63D: Soap-on-__: A ROPE. What is this? The Urban Dictionary definitions sound awful.
64D: Popeye's dad Poodeck __: PAPPY. No idea. PAPPY is just a Southern slang for dad, correct?
65D: Civil War's Robt. __: E LEE
67D: Big name in criticism: EBERT. Film critic Roger EBERT.
69D: Long time follower?: NO SEE . Long time NO SEE.
69D: Certain Slav: SERB
72D: Chef's high-temperature technique: SEARING. Hmm, I want some seared tuna.
75D: Vacation area: SEA COAST. "Vacation spot" is better as AREA is an answer to 40A.
77D: Annual dance: PROM
79D: Lollapalooza: DILLY. Lollapalooza is a fun word.
82D: Goodyear's home: AKRON. Once “the rubber capital of the world”.
83D: Hoover Dam's lake: MEAD
85D: "Blue" TV squad: NYPD. "NYPD Blue".
87D: More boring: STODGIER
89D: __ Fagan, Billie Holiday's birth name: ELEANORA. No idea. Thought Billie Holiday is her real name.
93D: New kid on the block, e.g.: ARRIVAL. Interesting intersection with RIVAL (114A: Honda, to Toyota).
97D: Toys "R" Us purchases: TRIKES
98D: Real est. ad. count: BRS
99D: Hybrid big cat: LIGER. Lion & tiger. Offspring of a male lion and a female tiger. Tiglon = Tiger & lion, the offspring of a male tiger and a female lion.
101D: First name in B-29 lore: ENOLA. ENOLA Gay.
104D: Rub off: ERASE
108D: Willy of "Free Willy": ORCA
111D: "Get Smart" evil agency: KAOS. Obtained the answer from Across fills.
112D: Thomfield Hall governess: EYRE. Jane EYRE.
115D: Check for accuracy: VET. Such rigorous vetting process for those White House nominees.
116D: Gift of the garrulous: GAB. Kiss the Blarney Stone, you'll get the gift of GAB.
Answer grid.
C.C.
22A: Fake footprint at the murder scene, e.g.: RED HERRING. Something intended to divert the attention from the real issue. Joe Biden used the phrase RED HERRING very often during his campaign TV appearance.
26A: Tea type: ORANGE PEKOE. Just black tea. No orange flavor.
33A: Coward, slangily: YELLOW-BELLY. Learned this phrase, lily-livered and mealy-mouthed together in one Op-Ed piece.
66A: Anne's home, in a 1908 Montgomery classic: GREEN GABLES. "Anne of GREEN GABLES", new novel to me. GREEN GABLES is a fictional farm in Prince Edward Island. Montgomery is a Canadian author.
98A: Aristocratic: BLUE-BLOODED. Wikipedia says blue blood is from Spanish phrase "sangre azul," indicating noble birth or descent. And the term derived from the fact that the native Spanish have thinner-walled (bluer) blood vessels than people of Arab origin (the Moors).
107A: "Closer to Fine" folk-rock duo: INDIGO GIRLS. They are featured prominently in "Wordplay". Crossword nuts.
115A: Ponytailed pal of Lucy Van Pelt, in "Peanuts": VIOLET GRAY. No idea. Can't really see her poneytail.
And 49D: Mnemonic for this puzzle's theme: ROY. G. BIV, placed perfectly in the heart of the grid. I like how those color phrases are structured. Very orderly and elegant. I just can never remember ROY G. BIV. So complicated. It's easier to remember the color sequence.
There are also three Biblical figures in this puzzle:
19A: Brother of Moses: AARON. He helped lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. I've never heard of him. More used to the Hank AARON clue.
80D: Twin of Jacob: ESAU. He sold his birthright to Jacob. Probably crossword constructors' favorite Biblical figure, with all those vowels.
95D: Third son of King David: ABSALOM. Hebrew for "father of peace". Ab(h)=father. Salom = peace. Completely unknown to me. I had AB????M, then I decided ABRAHAM sounds good.
Very pleasant solving. Lots of clever clues.
Across:
5A: 12th century year: MCII. Roman 1102.
9A: Tante's spouse: ONCLE. French for uncle. Tante=aunt.
20A: Santa's favorite snack cakes?: HO HOS. Ho, ho, ho, lovely clue for our Santa Argyle.
21A: Limp-watch artist: DALI. In his "The Persistence of Memory", the watches are limp.
28A: Story starter? ESS. Letter S starts the word Story, hence starter.
27A: Kiss drummer Peter: CRISS. No idea. He is the Catman. Those guys have very strange makeup.
30A: Bite hard: CHOMP
31A: Conjurer's word: PRESTO
39A: Net business: ETAIL. Like Amazon/Ebay.
40A: It may have a code: AREA. Stumped me. Nice clue.
43A: A-Team muscle man: MR. T. Would prefer another clue due to TEAM (123A: Locker room group).
46A: Fitness franchise primarily for women: CURVES. There is one closer to our home.
48A: Related to the lower back: SACRAL. The noun is sacrum. Latin for "holy bone". No wonder it sounds sacred.
52A: Adjusts, as sagging socks: HIKES UP
54A: Helmsley and others: LEONAS. "The Queen of Mean" hotelier.
56A: 1930s-40s singer/actress Durbin: DEANNA. Unknown to me. She looks pretty. Canadian. Still alive.
57A: Stuffed shirt: SNOB
59A: "As a matter of fact," informally: Y'KNOW
62A: Stare: GAPE. Thought of OGLE.
71A: Paperless tests: ORALS. And DEES (74A: Bad marks) & BEAR (58D: Nasty exam).
73A: Meal on a stick: KABOB. Shish KABOB. Lots of weird food-on-a-stick at our State Fair.
76A: Nursery rhyme loser?: BO PEEP. "Little BO BEEP has lost her sheep". Stumper for me. All nursery rhymes are.
78A: Make a home (in): RESIDE. And ADOBE (102D: Southwestern home).
81A: "Like that'll ever happen!": DREAM ON
86A: Shows up: APPEARS
88A: Correct, as text: REVISE
90A: Site of a bread line?: BAKERY. Nailed it.
91A: "L.A. Law" costar: DEY (Susan)
92A: Go round and round: ROTATE. I liked the clue.
97A: Island east of Java: TIMOR. Sigh. I can only think of BALI. West TIMOR belongs to Indonesia. East TIMOR is an independent country.
100A: Pay attention in class: LEARN. Wanted LISTEN.
106A: One of a world majority: ASIAN
117A: Wittenberg's river: ELBE. Wittenberg is a town on the ELBE River. Famous for its connection with Martin Luther and the dawn of the Protestant Reformation. Unknown to me.
118A: Knock off: CEASE
119A: Wrong move: ERROR
120A: Mythical matchmaker: AMOR. Cupid. Roman love god. YENTE is the "Musical matchmaker" in "Fiddler on the Roof".
121A: Highland rejections: NAES
122A: Specter on the Hill: ARLEN. Pennsylvania senator. Started as a Democrat, then changed to Republican, and now back to a Democrat.
124A: Slider's goal: BASE. Baseball.
Down:
2D: Aggressive Greek god: ARES. Greek god of war. TYR is the Norse equivalent.
5D: Cousin of the xylophone: MARIMBA. New instrument to me also. What kind of wood is it made of?
6D: Veggie drawers: CRISPER. I put my grapes/peaches in the CRISPER.
8D: Having one sharp, musically: IN G. Nope. Music term is definitely my blind spot.
9D: Chicago site of many connections: O'HARE. Airport. Second busiest airport in the world, after Atlanta.
11D: Seaman's song: CHANTEY (SHAN-tee). New word to me. I will just connect it with chanter, French for "sing".
12D: A million to one, say: LONG ODDS
13D: Italian noble family: ESTE
14D: Gigi's goodbye: ADIEUS. Does Gigi here refer to Leslie Caron's "Gigi" or just a common French name?
15D: Warmongers: HAWKS. Like Paul Wolfowitz. Man, this guy is incredible. Expensive suit, no?
16D: Economist Janeway: ELIOT. Got the answer from Across fills. He was the economic advisor to FDR and LBJ.
17D: Gets the lead out?: MINES. Metal lead.
19D: Hood's weapon?: ARROW. Robin Hood.
23D: Lacking auditory feedback: ECHOLESS. Did not know it's a word.
28D: Jazz trombonist Kid: ORY. Nope. Complete stranger to me. I do know the answer for "Jazz trombonist grandpa": RON. Our jazzbumpa.
29D: Chinese leader: PREMIER. Zhou Enlai is our first and most beloved PREMIER.
30D: Horror writer Barker: CLIVE. Nope. He does not look like a writer. I like this CLIVE (Owen). Daniel Craig too. I find them to be very attractive.
31D: Put: PLACE
33D: "Ugh!": YECH. JD uses this word sometimes.
34D: Case for tweezers and such: ETUI (ey-TWEE). PTUI is pronounced like TOO-ee.
35D: Symbol of happiness: LARK. Happy as a LARK.
36D: "Boston Public" actress Sharon: LEAL. No idea. Do you like her lipstick color?
38D: Like no news?: GOOD. No news is GOOD news.
41D: Decaf pioneer: SANKA. Have never had it.
42D: "If at first you don't succeed" course of action: PLAN B. This answer gives me trouble all the time, regardless of how it's clued.
44D: Keep getting Mad, say: RENEW. Mad magazine. M is capitalized.
45D: Old dynasts: TSARS
47D: Like most pop hits: SUNG. Did not come to me immediately.
51D: He succeeded Fidel: RAUL. Brothers.
53D: Politically motivated spending: PORK. Pork barrel.
62D: Turn: GO BAD
63D: Soap-on-__: A ROPE. What is this? The Urban Dictionary definitions sound awful.
64D: Popeye's dad Poodeck __: PAPPY. No idea. PAPPY is just a Southern slang for dad, correct?
65D: Civil War's Robt. __: E LEE
67D: Big name in criticism: EBERT. Film critic Roger EBERT.
69D: Long time follower?: NO SEE . Long time NO SEE.
69D: Certain Slav: SERB
72D: Chef's high-temperature technique: SEARING. Hmm, I want some seared tuna.
75D: Vacation area: SEA COAST. "Vacation spot" is better as AREA is an answer to 40A.
77D: Annual dance: PROM
79D: Lollapalooza: DILLY. Lollapalooza is a fun word.
82D: Goodyear's home: AKRON. Once “the rubber capital of the world”.
83D: Hoover Dam's lake: MEAD
85D: "Blue" TV squad: NYPD. "NYPD Blue".
87D: More boring: STODGIER
89D: __ Fagan, Billie Holiday's birth name: ELEANORA. No idea. Thought Billie Holiday is her real name.
93D: New kid on the block, e.g.: ARRIVAL. Interesting intersection with RIVAL (114A: Honda, to Toyota).
97D: Toys "R" Us purchases: TRIKES
98D: Real est. ad. count: BRS
99D: Hybrid big cat: LIGER. Lion & tiger. Offspring of a male lion and a female tiger. Tiglon = Tiger & lion, the offspring of a male tiger and a female lion.
101D: First name in B-29 lore: ENOLA. ENOLA Gay.
104D: Rub off: ERASE
108D: Willy of "Free Willy": ORCA
111D: "Get Smart" evil agency: KAOS. Obtained the answer from Across fills.
112D: Thomfield Hall governess: EYRE. Jane EYRE.
115D: Check for accuracy: VET. Such rigorous vetting process for those White House nominees.
116D: Gift of the garrulous: GAB. Kiss the Blarney Stone, you'll get the gift of GAB.
Answer grid.
C.C.
